Explosion relief wall supporting fastener

ABSTRACT

An explosion relief wall supporting fastener for any suitable building or equipment enclosure for enabling the wall to be readily blown away from the enclosure in the event of an explosion therein. The fastener comprises a plate member secured to the wall of the enclosure in substantially parallel relation, a flange secured to the enclosure in parallel relation to the plate member, a bolt substantially normal to the wall and extending through aligned openings in the plate and flange members, a sleeve encircling the end of the bolt, and a shear pin extending through aligned openings in the bolt and sleeve for releasably securing the plate and flange members together.

United States Patent [191 Reinhardt et al.

EXPLOSION RELIEF WALL SUPPORTING FASTENER 3,386,215 6/1968 Wendel et al 52/573 x 3,521,390 7/1970 Carlson 52/98 x 3,742,667 7/1973 Tofani 52/235 Primary Examiner-Price C. Faw, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Steve W. Gremban ABSI'RACT An explosion relief wall supporting fastener for any suitable building or equipment enclosure for enabling the wall to be readily blown away from the enclosure in the event of an explosion therein. The fastener comprises a plate member secured to the wall of the enclosure in substantially parallel relation, a flange secured to the enclosure in parallel relation to the plate member, a bolt substantially normal to the wall and extending through aligned openings in the plate and flange members, a sleeve encircling the end of the bolt, and a shear pin extending through aligned openings in the bolt and sleeve for releasably securing the plate and flange members together.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures EXPLOSION RELIEF WALL SUPPORTING FASTENER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to explosion fasteners, and more specifically to an explosion relief wall supporting fastener for any suitable enclosure.

2. Description of the Prior Art In many industrial processes, explosive materials are manufactured, or explosive materials are used in a manufacturing process. If an explosion should occur within the confines of an enclosed building, room or equipment housing, its force is dissipated upon the occupants and furnishings within the room or building. If a side wall is attached to the enclosure by explosion relief wall fasteners, the destructive force of the explosion can break the fasteners and be released to the exterior of the enclosure, thus causing much less damage to the occupants or furnishings within or adjacent the enclosure. An explosion relief wall fastener of this general type for a building enclosure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,887. In such patent, the explosion release fastener comprises a bolt having a necked-down portion formed by a peripheral notch in which the bolt will break in shear or tension if the force exerted on the bolt due to the explosion exceeds a predetermined force. The predetermined force is established consistent with good engineering practice and safety regulations, and for many applications may be about 30 pounds per square foot. Although such prior art explosion release fasteners operate satisfactorily, they suffer of being very difficult to replace in the event one of the bolts should inadvertently fail or break. This normally requires dismantling the wall panels which is timeconsuming and expensive. Such' explosion release fasteners also are relatively delicate and a high percentage are damaged after assembly and have to be replaced at a relatively high cost of replacement fasteners and maintenance. Accordingly, the. maintenance costs for maintaining a wall assembly including such prior art explosion release fasteners are exceedingly high. Furthermore, it is a major project to convert from an explosion release wall to a conventionalwall if such is desired. Also, different types of fasteners are required with different structural values for varying structural requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, an improved explosion relief wall supporting fastener is disclosed for use with any suitable enclosure such as a building or the like to enable the wall to be readily blown away from the frame enclosure in the event of an explosion therein. The explosion relief wall fastener comprises a flange member secured to the frame enclosure, and a plate member secured to a wall panel with. a leg portion of the plate member spaced from and substantially parallel to the wall panel, and positioned adjacent to the flange. The plate and flange members are secured together by a headed bolt extending through aligned openings in the leg portion and flange. A sleeve is provided as a separate unit slidably mountable on the end of the bolt opposite the head and a shear pin is inserted into aligned openings in the bolt and sleeve. In an alternative the sleeve can be secured to the leg portion in alignment with the leg portion opening by any suitable means such as welding or the like. In a more specific embodiment of the invention, the plate member is U-shaped, the shear pin comprises a copper wire of any suitable gauge, and a plurality of plate and flange members and bolts are provided in spaced relation for each wall panel depending upon factors such as the panel area, the shear force of the pins, etc. In still another embodiment, the sleeve has a necked-down portion that is insertable within the plate opening to provide a larger support area for the wall panel.

One of the objects and advantages of this invention is to provide an improved explosion relief wall fastener for an enclosure that is of simple design and construction, thoroughly reliable and efficient in operation, and economical to manufacture.

Another object and advantage of this invention is to provide an explosion relief wall fastener for a frame enclosure or the like that significantly reduces maintenance cost and time.

Other objects and advantages of this invention are to provide an improved explosion release fastener that allows standard wall erection procedures, that is not damaged during installation and rarely requires replacement, that allows ready conversion from an explosion release wall to a conventional wall, and that is adaptable to any type of wall panel.

Another object and advantage of this invention is to provide an improved explosion release wall supporting fastener that eliminates the possibility of field error since only one type of fastener is used for any single application, and has the strength capability required to support a wall without failing or shearing.

The invention and its objects and advantages will become more apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment presented below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view in section illustrating a typical type of wall for a building enclosure in DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Because building and equipment enclosures are well known, the present disclosure will be directed in particular to elements forming part of, or cooperating more directly with, apparatus in accordance with the present invention. Elements of enclosures line not specifically shown or described herein should- 3 be understood to be selectable from those known in the art. A I

With reference to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in an exemplary building enclosure application. In such application, a cross-sectional view of one type of wall construction for a building enclosure or the like is disclosed in which the building has a concrete wall and floor support base or footing 8, a roof panel 10, and any number of horizontally extending H beams, not shown, supported therebetween depending upon the number of floors desired in the building. A wall 12 for the building normally comprises a plurality of inner wall panels 14 each having an inner liner sheet 16 to which any suitable insulation 18 preferably in batt form is secured by any suitable means. The wall further has a plurality of outer, preferably corrugated wall panels 20 which are secured to the inner panels 14 by any suitable means such as elongated sub-girts 22. The inner and outer wall panels 14, 20 respectively are supported and secured as a unit to the building frame enclosure by a plurality of explosion relief wall supporting fasteners 24. Flashing 26 of any suitable material is used to connect ends of the wall panels to the roof, footing and to one another for weather stripping purposes. The number of fasteners 24 desired can be readily computed by any suitable means taking into account such factors, among others, as wind forces against the wall, the square footage of the wall that would be subjected to an explosive force, and the force atwhich the fastener will fail or release.

The building frame enclosure is provided with a plurality of support flanges 26 such as elongated L-shaped beams secured to the building structure by bolts or the like as is known in the art. Elongated U-shaped channel members 28 are provided having one leg portion 30 thereof secured by bolts 31 or the like to the inner liner sheet 16 of inner wall panel 14. The wall panel 14 and channel member 28 are positioned with the other channel leg portion 32 in engagement with support flange 26, and bolts 34 are inserted through a desired number of spaced, aligned openings 35, 37 in flange 26 and leg portion 32 respectively as best seen in FIG. 3. Each bolt 34 is preferably formed of stainless steel to resist rusting, and has a head 36 at one end and a diametrically extending opening 38 at the other end. A sleeve 40 is slidably mounted on the bolt end, and has a neckeddown portion 42 at one end insertable within the opening in the leg portion. If desired, sleeve 40 can be secured by welding or the like to leg portion 32 previous to the insertion of the bolts. In addition to locating sleeve 40 relative to the opening in leg portion 32, the sleeve serves to distribute the weight of the wall panels 14, 20 against a longer length of the bolt. The sleeve 40 is further provided with radially extending aligned openings 44 (FIG. 5) of substantially the same diameter as bolt opening 38. The sleeve 40 is adjusted until openings 44 therein are in alignment with bolt opening 38, and a shear wire 46 of any suitable gauge and material such as copper is inserted through the aligned openings 38, 44 for releasably securing the wall panels 14, 20 and channel 28 to support flanges 26. In one application, a 10 gauge copper wire 46 was found to be satisfactory. Naturally, any desired opening diameter and shear wire of any suitable diameter. or material may be used depending upon, for example, the force at which fastener 24 is designed to fail or break. To provide a snug fit between leg portion 32 and flange 26, a resilient washer 48 is interposed between head 36 and flange 26 which is slightly depressed when sleeve 40 and bolt 34 are pressed toward one another to align the openings 38, 44 in bolt 34 and sleeve 40 respectively. Although a U-shaped channel member 28 is illustrated in FIGS. l3, any other suitable support member may be used such as the Z-shaped member 50 illustrated in FIG. 4. The major requirement of channel members 28, 50 is to space inner liner sheet 16 a'sufficient distance from flange 26 to permit ready assembly or disassembly of bolt 34, sleeve 40 and shear pin 46 with facility, and without requiring dismantling of the wall panels 14, 20.

.The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinabove.

We claim:

1. In an explosion relief, wall fastener for a frame enclosure or the like, the combination comprising:

a flange member secured to said frame enclosure;

a wall panel;

a plate member secured to said wall panel and having one portion thereof spaced from and substantially parallel to said wall panel, and positioned adjacent and parallel to said flange member;

said plate and flange members having aligned first openings extending therethrough;

a bolt extending through said aligned first openings and having a head at one end and a diametrically extending second opening at the other end;

a sleeve slidably mounted on said other end of said bolt and having a radially extending third opening movable into register with said second I opening; and

a shear pin insertable into said second and third openings, said shear pin adapted to be sheared to allow outward movement of said wall panel relating to said flange member when an explosive force equal to or greater than a predetermined force is I plate member is U-shaped.

3. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said plate member is Z-shaped.

4. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said shear pin comprises copper wire.

5. Theinvention according to claim 1 wherein said frame enclosure is provided with a plurality of said wall panels, a plurality of said plate end flange members for each wall panel, and a plurality of said bolts in spaced relation.

6. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said plate member is U-shaped, said sleeve has a neckeddown portion insertable in said first plate opening, and further has a pair of aligned third openings through which said shear pin is inserted. 

1. In an explosion relief, wall fastener for a frame enclosure or the like, the combination comprising: a flange member secured to said frame enclosure; a wall panel; a plate member secured to said wall panel and having one portion thereof spaced from and substantially parallel to said wall panel, and positioned adjacent and parallel to said flange member; said plate and flange members having aligned first openings extending therethrough; a bolt extending through said aligned first openings and having a head at one end and a diametrically extending second opening at the other end; a sleeve slidably mounted on said other end of said bolt and having a radially extending third opening movable into register with said second opening; and a shear pin insertable into said second and third openings, said shear pin adapted to be sheared to allow outward movement of said wall panel relating to said flange member when an explosive force equal to or greater than a predetermined force is directed against said wall panel.
 2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said plate member is U-shaped.
 3. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said plate member is Z-shaped.
 4. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said shear pin comprises copper wire.
 5. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said frame enclosure is provided with a plurality of said wall panels, a plurality of said plate end flange members for each wall panel, and a plurality of said bolts in spaced relation.
 6. The invention according to claim 1 wherein said plate member is U-shaped, said sleeve has a necked-down portion insertable in said first plate opening, and further has a pair of aligned third openings through which said shear pin is inserted. 